We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Spencer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Mark thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later
I do in fact wish I could have started my business sooner. I started it in 2012 – but 2008 is where the crises started that was one of the key factors that brought me here. I was in industrial sales, and I had retail sales management experience as well. 2008 is when the economy crashed, and with that my career. I had many things I enjoyed about that career, but I wasn’t very satisfied with it. I had a hard time finding work for 2 years after my department was closed at SST. I was married with a blended family of 9 total people living in a double wide trailer. I had tried starting a few small businesses before this. Mobile bicycle repair, and windshield repair were the two personal businesses I was doing AND I eventually had a job at a machine shop working up to 60 hours a week – while taking care of a family. Then in 2012 my brother Dave passed away from a motorcycle accident, and about a week or two after that while working at a CNC machine at PlasTec, the idea came to me to keep bees, sell honey and maybe open a store one day. I knew no one who kept bees or sold honey, so this was an interesting idea to have. I do love nature, insects, honey, and natural things. I figured it would be a good way to make money while connecting me to nature and providing an excellent product to people. So in spring of 2013 I started up my first 2 hives. The learning curve was steep, and I had so little money to invest, as we didn’t have much and I had all those kids to care for. So working on a shoestring budget, and a lot of emotional support and advise from friends, I kept pushing forward and expanding. The past 3 or 4 years the work began to pay off as the business was looking much more like a business than a hobby. Then this spring I worked my last day for the machine shop, and I have been full time since then. I am 51 now, and I do feel that if I had started earlier I could have taken this much larger. It is physically and mentally demanding to be a full time keeper and producer. But with my kids growing up and the financial demands, I really think it would have been impossible to do that any earlier in my life. Also, before my children I don’t think I was of the mental state to make this go the way I have. So although it would have been nice, I wasn’t ready until 2012… it was then time to begin.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am the owner / found of Spencer’s Apiaries, LLC. I keep bees, produce honey, beeswax products, mentor and teach. I’m the V.P. of 7 ponds bee club, and an instructor at the SEMBA bee school.
I sell honey directly at farmers markets, various events, through my website and several local retailers.
I also answer a lot of questions from people with concerns about bees, and help people get started who have interest in beekeeping.
What do I want people to know about what I do? I love my bees, and I am so grateful for all they produce for us. I treat those items (honey, wax, propolis) with such high respect. They are gifts! I also love people, and truly try my best to give them only they very best products possible. If I can’t do it right, I won’t do it. Those bees, what they produce, and the people that I serve are of infinite value and worth. I have nothing but gratitude for all of it.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When I started keeping bees, I had certain philosophies and beliefs about how it should be done. I learned these from some books, speakers and facebook pages and they formed my early foundation. These beliefs were about how to manage hives, and the proper “treatment free” ways to do this. I held to many of these beliefs hard, even in the face of much loss and struggle believing I was doing it the “right” way. Then about 3 years ago I came to understand “Bee-husbandry”. This understanding of beekeeping takes the philosophy from what I feel is the right way to do things, to what the bees actually need and want. To put aside my viewpoint/wants, and pay attention to them and do whatever is needed to help them. After coming to this line of thinking, my bees and myself have both found far greater success. Beekeeping is an ever changing job. You never stop learning from the bees and others. You should always put aside your pride and learn how to be better. If you start telling yourself that you now have it mastered and don’t need to know anything more, you are in trouble.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I didn’t set out to build my reputation in the market the way that I have. Not intentionally anyhow. What I did was work hard with the bees, teach, return phone calls even if I can’t help, find a few key retailers and always treat them well. Be the face of my business at the farmers market and other tables that I run for sales. Be present at the bee clubs. Do educational posts about my business, beekeeping and bees on facebook. Basically, treat the bees well, talk to people, treat people well, provide the best products on the market, be respectful, be patient, be kind, and do my best. This has inadvertently grown a positive local reputation for me and my business that I am so grateful for.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spencershoney.com
- Instagram: @spencersapiaries
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spencersbees/